Police arrested a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader on Monday in connection with the molestation of a minor girl in Madhya Pradesh’s Umaria district.
The BJP leader has been identified as Rahul Shitlani, who was appointed district co-coordinator of the BJP IT cell in November 2022. He has now been removed from the party’s IT-cell.
On 10 April, this year, a case was filed against Sitlani at the Nowrozabad police station in the district under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and other relevant sections. The accused had a history of molesting and harassing the minor victim. He also threatened to go viral with the photo.
According to the FIR, the father of the minor girl had submitted a written application to the police station to lodge an FIR against the accused. He told the police that his daughter told him that she had a video call with Rahul Shitlani in March of this year, when she was in Anuppur for a wedding.
On video call, the accused threatened to defame her and asked her to remove her clothes. She did whatever the accused asked because she was afraid of being defamed, and in the meantime, the accused took screenshots.
When the minor returned home to Nowrozabad after about a week, the accused called her and showed her the obscene pictures. He threatened her that if she kept meeting him and talking, she would be safe; otherwise, he would make the photo go viral.